NEW DELHI, Dec 22:
A special court today fixed January 9 for considering CBI’s charge sheet filed against former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, ex-chief secretary Ashok Kumar Basu, former coal secretary H C Gupta and five others in connection with a coal blocks allocation scam case.
Special CBI judge Bharat Parashar fixed the matter for consideration of charge sheet after the agency filed various documents related to the case in the court.
“Set of relevant documents has been submitted. Arguments heard. Put up on January 9, 2015 for consideration,” the judge said.
The court was hearing the matter in which CBI had filed a charge sheet against Koda, Basu, Gupta, two serving public servants, Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh, director of Kolkata-based accused company Vini Iron Steel and Udyog Ltd, Vaibhav Tulsyan, and Vijay Joshi as accused.
All the accused have been named in the charge sheet for the offences punishable under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) of the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The case pertains to allocation of coal blocks to Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd in Jharkhand’s Rajhara town in which its directors and unknown public servants of Coal Ministry, Jharkhand Government and others were made accused in the FIR lodged by the CBI in September 2012.
During the hearing today, CBI also filed set of relevant document in a case in which it had named in its charge sheet Nagpur-based Grace Industries Ltd and one of its directors Mukesh Gupta as accused for the offence under Section 420 (cheating) of IPC in connection with a separate coal scam case.
The court has now fixed January 7 for considering CBI’s charge sheet in the matter.
In its FIR lodged in the case, the CBI had alleged that Grace Industries Ltd had bagged the Lohara East coal block in Maharashtra in 2008 by allegedly misrepresenting their net worth.
It, however, had not chargesheeted one of its other directors, Seema Gupta, who was named as accused in the FIR.
The charge sheet in the case involving Vini Iron Steel and Udyog Ltd was filed two months after the court had returned CBI’s final report filed in the matter, observing that the probe agency had failed to give any plausible explanation to its queries.
In its charge sheet, CBI has told the court that seven others, Sanjeev Tulsyan, Prashant Tulsyan, Nisha Tulsyan, Vimal Kumar Tulsyan, Nirmala Tulsyan, Hemant Kumar Aggarwal and Navin Kumar Tulsyan, were not named in the charge sheet as they were not found involved in any manner in commission of offences.
The agency had told the court that sanction to prosecute Bhattacharya and Singh, who are still in Government service, has been obtained from competent authority.
In its FIR lodged against Vini Iron Steel and Udyog Ltd, the agency had alleged that initially the firm was not having recommendation of either the Ministry of Steel or Jharkhand Government but the then Jharkhand chief secretary, who had attended 36th Screening Committee meeting on July 3, 2008, had signed minutes of the committee which had recommended allocation in favour of the firm.
CBI had alleged that Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd had fraudulently claimed an inflated net worth and the ownership of the firm too had changed hands during the intervening period of the 36th Screening Committee. (PTI)
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